Maharashtra: Gang of blackmailers held by Raigad police

Raigad police have apprehended five persons, including a woman who had allegedly honey trapped a businessman, then kidnapped him and blackmailed him that if he did not pay the money, his video with a woman would be made viral on the social media. The accused persons demanded an extortion of Rs 5 lakh and induced the victim to make an online payment of Rs 21,000 on the bank account of an accomplice.

The accused persons have been identified as Kishore Murkar, Ismail, Saurabh Dada, Snehal Jagdale and Chitra.

According to the Mangaon police, the complainant in the case is a resident of Mahad. The victim stays alone and two months ago he had employed a woman known as Chitra, as a domestic help at his place. On April 23, Chitra induced the victim to meet her and they both went to a hotel. After getting into the room, within five minutes someone knocked on the door. On opening it, two men came inside and claimed to be crime branch officials.

"As per the victim, the accused then clicked a photograph of the victim with Chitra stating that they were involved in illegal activity. They later took the victim to Indapur and asked the victim to settle the issue else they would make his photographs viral on social media. They demanded Rs 5 lakh, but since the victim did not have the money, he made an online transfer of Rs 21000 to a bank account of an accomplice," said a police officer.

The accused then dropped the victim near a hotel and left along with Chitra with a warning to pay the remaining amount else they would make his photograph viral, police said.

"On May 28, the victim received a phone call from an unknown person and asked him to come to the Lonere Phata area to pay them the extortion money. This victim then alerted the police and the police team laid a trap at the said place and intercepted the accused persons involved," said the officer.